AGGRESSIVE marketing and goodwill — not brilliance of art,
have been pushing Jah Prayzah, aka JP’s recent productions.
Apparently, the JP of old remains dead and buried. The
musician’s roots have completely dried.
Foreign influence continues to sink its claws deeper into
the Uzumba-born and bred artiste, compromising the vibrancy and identity of his
music.
It gets scary. The “Kumbumura Mhute” singer is failing to
realise that his squall is no longer sturdy. Yet the massive hype and zeal that has often preceded JP’s
album launches was not in the air this time around.
On November 2, the HICC was filled up sorely because people
continue to hope for another “Jerusarema” type of product. Prior to the event,
JP’s camp played the “vintage Jah Prayzah reincarnated” card. What a fetid lie!
The 13-track album and JP’s ninth studio project suggests
otherwise. Clearly, “Chitubu” is a rushed or rather, half-baked project.
Probably this explains why it is struggling to penetrate the market. If this
was Jah Prayzah’s debut effort, it was never going to earn him recognition.
“Chitubu” has been rated by the singer’s loyalists as an
average production. For now it is being carried by the weight of his brand —
nothing else. The album, which is an extension of JP’s unending music
experiments, lacks the sting traceable in projects like “Jerusarema” (2015) or
“Mdhara Vachauya” (2016).
While “Chitubu” might be easy on the ear, the project on
the whole is hollow. His last offering, “Kutonga Kwaro”, only got a breath of
life a month after its release courtesy of Operation Restore Legacy.
Tracks like “Kutonga Kwaro”, “Ndin’ Ndamubata” and “Masoja”
became theme songs for the operation. It appears the “Tsotsi” singer is in need
of yet another miracle to save the latest offering from drowning.
Following the release of “Chitubu”, his legion of followers
is begging for time. “…give Jah Prayzah’s album a chance, it will gain momentum
later, just like was the case with ‘Kutonga Kwaro’, said a die-hard JP fan last
week on YouTube.
But if truth be told, this latest experiment by JP is flat!
“Chitubu” has no single track with the capacity to dislodge hit of the moment
“The Reason Why” aka “Hat Dzemurara” by Baba Harare or even Enzo Ishall’s
“Kanjiva”.
Jah Prayzah’s peak was arguably the release of “Jerusarema”
and most of his productions after that have left a lot to be desired. His art
now lacks refinement.
Perhaps the lanky crooner needs to be reminded that
releasing an album every year is not a must.
The dismal performance on the local market of his single
“Ronika” after its release in July this year should have served as a warning to
the singer.
But again, this is JP. He remains as stubborn as ever. “I’m
still far from reaching my zenith. Besides I’m going to make sure I release
everything I have when I still have the opportunity and at my peak. Who knows,
maybe one day I will wake up fallen from grace, pava nemumwe Jah (replaced by
another Jah), what will happen to my unreleased compositions,” queried the
singer five years ago at Rufaro Stadium in Harare.
But Jah Prayzah’s composing prowess and ingenuity seem to
have gone into a coma. A number of tracks support this sentiment, including
“Dzamutsana”, which is a carbon copy of “Pikoko” off the album “Kutonga Kwaro”.
On “Dangerous”, vocal intonation and tempo are inspired by
“Eriza”, one of the many hits on the album “Jerusarema”.
As if that is not enough, the singer’s muse dies along the
way as he starts making senseless rhymes in addition to repeating the tired
“Tamuka achigadzira” chant.
The situation moves to another level.
JP self-plagiarises a chorus from “Kumagumo”, the eighth
track on “Kumbumura Mhute” (2014) on “Tauchira”, which sings, “Ndiani
angavhumbamire pwere, vamwe havabvume kunze kune mhute.”
While there is no harm in an artiste doing so, this more or
less renders “Chitubu” a remix effort of sorts. For instance, “Kune Rima”
sounds like a medium-paced version of the singer’s flop single “Angelo”,
featuring Jamaican star Jah Cure.
Equally, it is a bit difficult to distinguish the variance
of creativity between “Kune Rima” and “Kide”.
Tracks that attempt to deliver a vintage Jah Prayzah touch
are “Sarai”, “Chitubu”, “Hakata” and “Tauchira”. In the compositions, the
singer applies effort to retrace his roots but still, foreign influence takes
control through computer generated instruments that in turn erode the
authenticity of the traditional timbre.
Other tracks that make up “Chitubu” include “Follow Me”,
featuring Nigerian reggae-dancehall singer Patrick Nnaemeka Okorie better known
as Patoranking, “Special Somebody”, “Chigunduru”, “Kumahumbwe” and “Chikomo”.
Tsviriyo (2013), “Ngwarira Kuparara”, (2012) “Sungano
Yerudo” (2010) and “Rudo Nerunyararo” (2007) are JP’s other albums. Sunday Mail
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